Sunday, May 12, 2013

If the Bruins still win this series I may feel a little bad for Toronto

Boston is on the verge of blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Game 7 will be at the TD Garden Monday night (see "Hockey plays Game 7's on no days rest???" from two years ago). The die hard B's fans will hate me for saying this, but I can't get that upset about the possibility of dropping this series to Toronto. It's just a way bigger deal to them than it is to us. I'm not talking about the teams and players themselves, I mean actual Torontonians.

Thousands of them stand outside their arena each night to watch the games (pictured). For us hockey is the 4th major sport; for them it's the equivalent of football, baseball, and basketball all put together. They have the Raptors, who've only won a single playoff series since the NBA decided to put a team there in 1995. And they've got the Blue Jays, who did have some fans when Joe Carter won them the World Series 20 years ago, but now they routinely play in a mostly empty stadium. Which brings us back to their beloved Leafs, who last won the Stanley Cup when there were only 6 teams playing for it. Toronto's 44 year championship drought is the longest in the NHL. They want this a lot more than we do.